The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1887-03-24
Hotel Horror.

Scarcely had the report OF the destruction
of 100000 Of wholesale grocery property at
Buffalo, N. ", passed into the history of
the day than comes the story of the burn
ing of the Richmond hotel in the same city
with the loss of thirty lives and the injury
OF 30 to 40 persons, some of whom must also
die. The Richmond hotel was q newly ap-
pointed house, opened to the public on the
10th Of February, becoming in less than
month heap Of ashes. The tire, the origin
of which is unknown, was discovered at $3.50
on the morning of tue 18th and in two hours
only blackened and tottering walls re-
mained. There were l25 persons in the
hotel, 20 of whom were transient guests,
eight boarders and the remainder porters,
bell. ll.boys. the families of the proprietors and
clerks. Twenty-Five of these were rescued
from the windows by tho firemen, % are at
the hospitals and q large number made
their escape by other means.
The spread OF the flames is said to have
been frightful in its rapidity. The elevator
shaft served as q fiue to the flames and they
rushed up to the top floor in q very few
moments. As the guests were aroused and
found the interior exits cut of, they turned
to the windows. They could be seen in their
night clothes standing out clear aud vivid
before the lurid background Of the flames.
Their screams were horrible to hear, and
they could be heard for blocks. The
flames spread to the northeast side OF the
hotel first. The iremen did noble work and
confined the fire to the narrow limits of the
buildings named. Their work of rescue
had many exciting incidents. The tele-
graph wires Were as usual in the way Of the
ladder brigade. and much valuable time
was lost in getting the ladders past them.
Among the guests in the hotel were about
20 insurance agents who had come on to
Q6 i,Ysf tho taccaS nj ho rro fsso NJ Mtllor
Greiner & Co.'S. and the Courier Office on
Tuesday.
Five girls who roomed on the fifth floor
made q rope out of the bed-clOthes and
hung it out of the window, but none of
them seemed to have the courage to start
At las. one of the five took hold and swung
down to a window ledge, from which she
was rescued. Three others came down in
the same manner, and then the fifth girl
started down. She had gone but little
distance when the rope parted, and down
she went four stories. Strange to say, she
was not killed Her legs were terribly cut
and bruised, her back badly injured and
her face and arms were in frightful con-
dition from burns.
II. NJ. johnson, the celebrated sprint
runner, runner, Of Pittsaburg' says: Il arrived in
room la6 at the Richmond hotel. About
800 O'Clock in the morning the bell boy
pounded upon my door awOke and found
my room full Of smoke dressed quickly
and rushed out into the hallway and, o my
God, what a sight Men, women and chill
dren acted perfectly wild and did not know
which way to 60. Women raved like
maniacs and rushed pell nell from the
stairway and in every direction. The
smoke was almost suffocating. cannot
remember anything about how got out
but think l came down tho stairway.
The losses as at present stated on the
hotel, st. James hall and museum, stocks Of
goods in stores, clothing, jewelry &c, az
gregate $780, GOO, with considerable insur-
ance, covering half the loss or more.